System and method for marketing attribution in an enterprise

ABSTRACT

A system and method include a customer engagement platform of an enterprise. The customer engagement platform is configured to connect with an audience computer and provide to the audience computer contact information associated with a marketing attribution. The marketing attribution accompanies an impression served to the audience computer. The impression and marketing attribution associated with the contact information are sent to the customer engagement platform during an interaction with the enterprise.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/577,879, filed on Dec. 19, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,491,294, thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Contact centers can process transactions and general servicing ofcustomers' needs. Modern contact centers use proactive methods to reachout to persons who may be existing or potential customers in order toanticipate needs of such persons and to elicit engagement of thosepersons in transaction and or service-based processes hosted by thecontact center. Initiating proactive contact can include proactivetelephone contact based on some information already known about theperson. For example, a person may click on a product description tolearn more about a product advertised on a web page (or within a mobileapplication, email, text message, streaming TV/media, or otherinternet/electronic-based communication channel). When the contactcenter learns of this action by the person, an automated offer may bedelivered to that person, e.g., a pop-up message, which asks the personif they would like to chat with an agent, receive or schedule a call,make an appointment in a branch or store, or be redirected to an orderpage, for example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In association with the following detailed description, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings, where like numerals in differentfigures can refer to the same element.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example impression delivery network.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example support side architecture forsupporting the advertisement delivery network, or other deliverynetworks.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example support side architecture forsupplying a representative in the advertisement delivery network, orother delivery networks.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example architecture to consider marketattribution when serving impressions.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of another example architecture to considermarket attribution when serving impressions.

FIG. 6 is a screenshot of an example service window for therepresentative.

FIG. 7 is a screenshot of an example call control element.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an example of market attribution.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of market attribution based onworkforce management (WFM) forecasting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Marketing spending is intended to drive enterprise revenue. With thegrowth of the Internet network, electronic advertising, includingadvertising via web pages, mobile applications, emails, text messaging,streaming TV/video/media, etc., e.g., search result page advertising viathe Internet, have become vehicles for opt-in advertising and/or drivefollow-up by the prospect or customer through various communicationchannels. Targeting methods for electronic advertising include targetingconsumers based on search keyword, browser behavior, navigation history,profile information, likes or dislikes, survey response, GPScoordinates, social media activities, etc. For electronic advertising, aconsumer receiving the advertisement may interact with it to initiate aprocess which represents the goal of the advertisement, e.g., a sale toa consumer of a service or a product.

For purposes of explanation, the term contact center is used to refer tothe contact point within the enterprise or organization that isinteracting with the prospect or customer. The embodiments are notrestricted to traditional contact center agents. The contact point canalso include situations such as a representative in a branch, store,back office, home-based worker, field worker, outsourcer, and/or virtualagents or other forms of self-service automation, etc. Any point ofcontact is possible. Also, an agent is a point of contact agent or otherenterprise representative.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example impression delivery network 100.For purposes of explanation, an online advertising platform isdescribed, but other types of advertising platforms can be usedincluding print advertising, radio advertising, television advertising,etc. The impression delivery network 100 may be a data packet network ornetwork segment including a delivery network over which the impressions104, e.g., advertisements, may be served to an audience computer 106 a,b, n. The audience computer 106 a, b, n can include a computer or anyother suitable end device of a potential customer, an existing customer,etc. Broadband, digital subscriber line (DSL) services, cable, etc. maybe employed in the delivery architecture.

A demand-side platform 108 allows marketers on market side computers 110a, b, n to manage multiple ad exchange and data exchange 112 accountsthrough an application programming interface (API). Publishers 114 a, b,n of ad networks 116 a, b, n make requests for bids and retrieve theimpressions 104 from the ad exchange 112 to send the impressions 104 tothe audience computers 106 a, b, n. A publisher 114 a, b, n and adnetwork 116 a, b, n can include a search engine provider, e.g. YAHOO, orother publisher. An exemplary ad exchange 112 is the DoubleClick AdExchange. Real-time bidding for display of the impressions 104 onlinecan take place within the ad exchanges 112. By utilizing the demand sideplatform 108, the publishers 114 a, b, n can manage their bid requestsfor the available advertising space and the pricing for the impressions104, and the market side computers 110 a, b, n can manage theadvertisements that they are layering on to the website to target theaudiences of the audience computers 106 a, b, n. The market sidecomputers 110 a, b, n can perform various functions including design ofmarketing advertisements campaigns and arbitration of advertisementassignments to publishers, e.g., automated, based on rules. Logic forarbitration can include determining an actual current presence of endusers and pricing. If the impression 104 includes an option for acommunication with the representative 206, e.g., a chat or a call, thenpacing can be implemented. Pacing is related to hit rate, e.g.,percentage of accepted offers, which may vary across publishers 114 a,b, n, and can depend on further parameters including time of day,season, etc., as described below. A winning bid from the market sidecomputers 110 a, b, n gets its impression 104 displayed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example support side architecture 200for supporting the impression delivery network 100, or other deliverynetwork. Digital advertising purchases can be evaluated based onhistorical campaign data, web usage criteria, page traversal, and otherdata. The demand side platform 108 allows market side computers 110 a,b, n to optimize their bids based on key performance indicators, e.g.,effective cost per click (eCPC) and effective cost per action (eCPA).This ensures the right product or service is offered to a particularaudience computer 106 a, b, n. The organization utilizing the marketside computers 110 a, b, n may want to deliver the representative 206 totimely support the sales or service opportunity without the audience ofthe audience computer 106 a, b, n having to wait more than a determinedamount of time. As described in more detail below, this can be addressedby proper pacing of the advertisement campaign, matching generatedinbound traffic with available resources, e.g., representatives 206.

For example, the impression 104 may include contact information 202 sothat the audience can use a communication device 204 to connect over anetwork 210 with the representative 206, e.g., agent, at an enterprise208, e.g., a contact center, a branch, store, a back office, ahome-based agent, etc. The communication device 204 can include a mobilephone, a landline phone, a computer, etc. The network 210 can include apublic switched telephone network (PSTN), including for example,telephone lines, Voice Over Internet protocol (VoIP), fiber opticcables, microwave transmission links, cellular networks, communicationssatellites, undersea telephone cables, etc., interconnected by switchingcenters, and/or a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN),e.g., the Internet, a city area network (CAN), a metropolitan areanetwork (MAN), etc., e.g., enabled for a point of contact by a GENEYSYSIP server.

The market side computers 110 a, b, n may be used by a marketing team todetermine which advertising methods are most valuable. With feedbackfrom the enterprise 208, the market side computer 110 a, b, n can trackdigital marketing from the initial impression 104 through the contactand/or purchase process with the representative 206 to see whichimpressions 104 drew the customer to the web page and subsequently to acustomer contact and/or purchase. Other scenarios include the enterprisetrying to get the audience to ‘opt into’ is an activity such ascompleting a survey or volunteering for a non-profit or politicalorganization, etc. The initial sales lead may be capturedonline/electronically, and/or an actual purchase may not take placeuntil the customer is interacting in a more direct communicationchannel, e.g., while talking on the phone with the representative 206and/or during an in-person meeting with a branch/store representativethat may have been scheduled as part of the initial online lead capture.

The digital marketing attribution can be maintained whether or not thecustomer reaches out to the enterprise 208, e.g., contact center orother point of contact, for help through an inbound phone call as partof the customer contact and/or sales process. Points of contact caninclude a branch, store, back office, home-based agent, etc. The initialdigital interaction, e.g. filling out a web form, can be paired with adirect inbound phone call in this way. The pairing can identify thegiven a publisher/website combination, or additionally a date/time, etc.For example, a customer may delay a call to the next day. Pairing forchat can assume that the chat is launched directly from the websitewhere the impression 104 was displayed. The impression 104 can offerfurther communication options, e.g. social media including FACEBOOK,TWITTER, etc. If directly invoked from the given website then thecontext can be transferred as well. If the phone call is done through adifferent end device, e.g., rather than a WebRTC call from the samewebsite, then pairing may require a unique ID, e.g. different 800# perpublisher/website, or additional keyword, promotion code, or a quickresponse (QR) code, etc.

As a result, phone calls into the enterprise have marketing attributionwith the ability to tie the particular ad-spend to the enterprise'ssales or service results. The fed back information can be used invarious ways, e.g., to inform the market processing system of the besttime to serve impressions 104 for determined topics, e.g., when morepeople are interacting with the impressions 104, or when morerepresentatives 206 are needed, e.g., to schedule their work shifts,perform intra-day staffing/schedule adjustment, e.g. comparing actualtraffic during first business hour with predicted one and proportionallyadjusting staffing, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the demand sideplatform 108 can send information to a customer engagement platform 420to aid the enterprise 208 with scheduling representatives 206. Thecustomer engagement platform 420 can include the CRM and/or CXP 344, orother platform that is can serve dynamic contact information, e.g.,phone numbers or extension, and tie the dynamic numbers to both themarketing attribution and the subsequent customer contact/interaction.

Additionally, web traffic volume, views on the web page in which theimpressions 104 appears, and/or CTR (click-through rates) can betracked, and it is possible to determine the full conversion pathcorrelated with that marketing attribution if the conversion pathincludes a direct inbound phone call. Other data can also be tracked,e.g., if the impression 104 that led to the call was forwarded fromanother person, etc. For example, the market side computers 110 a, b, nforwards an impression 104 to the web page of the audience 106 a, b, n,and when the audience 106 a, b, n opens a link the publisher 114 a, b, ndetermines through cookies or surrounding circumstances that the openedpage is not a typical entrance page, e.g., that the impression 104 wasforwarded. Additionally or alternatively, sharing the information viasocial media can be monitored. Additionally or alternatively, when theaudience 106 a, b, n calls the representative 206 can ask whether thelink was forwarded, e.g. during a conversation with the representative206 or in a survey.

The market side computers 110 a, b, n can measure the cost-effectivenessof particular advertisements and ad placements, in terms of quantifiablebenefit metrics such as cost per action/acquisition (CPA), versus theenterprise 208 having an arbitrary or estimated marketing attribution.Alternatively, enterprises can set up determined contact information,e.g., phone numbers that are used with general marketing categories toget an aggregate count of phone calls, e.g. fifty calls came into thepoint of contact today for “upgrade” campaigns. The feedback from theenterprise 208 to the market side computer 110 a, b, n allows for theindividual customers to be associated with a marketing campaign once thecustomer has dialed the enterprise 208. Therefore, it is possible to tiesales closure rates for individual customers to a specific marketingcampaign or advertisement.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example support side architecture 300for supplying representatives 206 in the impression delivery network100, or other delivery networks. The enterprise can set an advertisementbudget to determine a number of impressions 104 to purchase. In oneimplementation, the impressions 104 can be purchased based on datareceived from the enterprise 208, e.g. regarding an availability ofskilled representatives to converse to the audience about the impression104 (310). Representative availability and skill data received from theenterprise 208 can be mapped to the searched for item to determinewhether or not to purchase the impression 104. Other factors, e.g.,representative rank, talent of the representative in a determined skillarea such as selling, etc. can also be used. The factors can vary fordifferent publishers 114 a, b, n, e.g. due to the types of theaudiences, including age, gender, geographic-location, interests, etc.,visiting the website of the publishers 114 a, b, n. Availability canmean immediately available or available within a determined amount oftime, e.g., in the near future, at a particular time of day, etc. Theaudience computer 106 a, b, n searches for a product or service, e.g.,for kitchen sinks. Publisher 114 a, b, n, can place the impression 104in the search results, e.g., in a search result list, of the audiencecomputer 106 a, b, n. The market side computers 110 a, b, n may sendimpressions 104 to the publishers 114 a, b, n in different modes, e.g.,one-by-one, in batches (determined fixed number), for fixed time slots(but unlimited number), or any combination thereof. The publisher 114 a,b, n can adjust the placing for each such mode.

The audience computer 106 a, b, n can be used to select, e.g., click on,the impression 104 in the search results and be directed to a website ofthe seller enterprise. The website can encourage the audience 106 a, b,n to reach out to the enterprise 208, e.g., “Representative waiting tohelp you!” by dialing the provided phone number. Alternatively, thewebsite can encourage the audience to reach out by displaying the callnumber or chat link in the impression 104, without the audience 106 a,b, n having to click it. For each impression 104, data 315 can becollected about search that leads to the impression 104 to be served,and the click through seller (CTS) data associated with the routeidentification (ID) (320). Additionally or alternatively, the audiencecomputer 106 a, b, n can be provided with a web browser link to connectwith the representative 206 of the enterprise 208. For example, WebRTCprovides web browsers with Real-Time Communications (RTC) capabilitiesvia simple JavaScript APIs. The WebRTC route ID information can becollected from the browser (330). The route ID and data from the searchand CTS can be stored in a database, e.g., a local or remote database ordistributed databases, and/or the cloud 335. Collected data 315 caninclude search information, e.g., about the type of product or service,profile information, e.g., audience ID, level of service, and type ofaudience, and context information, e.g., location of the audiencemember, time of the contact, etc.

The call or web browser communication along with the collected data 315is sent to and/or accessed by the enterprise 208 (340). At theenterprise 208, a customer relationship management (CRM) system and/or acustomer experience platform (CXP) 344, e.g., GENESYS CustomerExperience Platform, potentially further enhanced by GENESYSConversation Manager capabilities, can be used to manage the contactcenter interactions with the customer. The CRM and/or CXP 344 organizes,automates and synchronizes sales, marketing, customer service, andtechnical support. Calls and browser interactions are answered by therepresentative 206 or placed in a queue to wait for a next availablerepresentative. A service window 346 can display the queue to therepresentative 206. The representative 206 of the enterprise 208 can beskilled in discussing kitchen sinks, or a knowledge management corpus atthe enterprise 208 can be available that have the skill to discusskitchen sinks. The knowledge workers can be invited to handle the callor chat. This can be done through pacing of invites to knowledgeworkers, and keeping those who accepted for a short time in a pool ofreserved knowledge workers. Queued interaction requests are matched toreserved knowledge workers. In order to not block the knowledge workers,the knowledge workers can leave the knowledge worker pool afterconfigurable timeout, even if no interaction was assigned. Anotherscenario is transfer from representative 206 to knowledge worker, e.g. atwo-step or a blind transfer. The representative 206 removes the call orbrowser interaction from the queue and helps the customer to resolve anissue or make a purchase.

The impression 104 can be attributed, for example, based on a reserveddialed number identification service (DNIS) associated with theimpression 104 for a call (which may be a full phone number DNIS and/ora unique extension number appended to the DNIS), and/or based on asession for a chat engagement via the browser or for a virtual resource,and/or based on a scheduled contact or appointment with a representativewithin the enterprise 350). The reserved phone number, for example, isassociated with the marketing attribution, and the marketing attributioncan accompany the impression 104 served to the audience computer 106 a,b, n. Means other than the phone number can be used to identify theimpression 104, e.g., based on the publisher 114 a, b, n, the navigationpath, the date/time, etc. The marketing attribution made by theenterprise 208 regarding the call can include a call resolution to beshared with the market side computer 110 a, b, n. For example, theenterprise 208 can indicate that a sale was made, that a sale was notmade, that caller will call back, that the caller wants a call back,etc.

Additional or alternative to a dynamic DNIS, the embodiments can be usedwith other communication channels, including non-phone typecommunication channels. For example, one implementation includes theimpression 104 providing a reserved appointment time in an office,branch or store. If the prospect or customer accepts the appointmentinvitation, the marketing attribution for the impression 104 is tied tothe in-person interaction with the prospect or customer. For example,the impression 104 may be related to having a retirement health checkanalysis done by an investment specialist at the local investment bankerbranch office.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example architecture 400 to considermarket attribution when serving impressions 104. The example uses websearch as the communication method, however, there are many otherpossible communication methods including mobile, short message service(SMS), online ads, etc. to deliver communication for a determinedcampaign. A market processing system 402 provides digital marketingtechnology that offers email and web based marketing campaign managementtools to the market side computers 110 a, b, n. A search enginemarketing (SEM) platform 404 connected with the market processing system402 requests advertisement bids and volume (410). The market processingsystem 402 sends impressions 104 to a search engine marketing platform404, e.g., via an email link or to be displayed during a web search 405,in accordance with an advertising budget and based on feedback from therepresentative station 424, as described in more detail below (412).

The audience computer 106 a, b, n searches for a product or a service,e.g., via a web browser (413). The search engine marketing platform 404sends the impressions 104 to the web browser during the web search. Inthe context of a search, a search engine 409, e.g., ad networks 116 a,b, n and publishers 114 a, b, n of FIG. 1, can determine an impression104 for the audience computer 106 a, b, n based on attributes providedby the market side computers 110 a, b, n. Additionally or alternatively,the impression 104 can be placed on a web page during web browsing,without the need for a search. In one example, the impression can beplaced on the page based on information obtained from cookies. Theattributes can include a location of the target audience, e.g.,audiences living in the Midwest, a determined age range, a determinedgender, a determined net worth, a determined language, etc. Includedwith the attributes can be a customer identifier and/or a scoringnumber. The website 406 requests a dynamic number from the customerengagement platform 420 by sending the marketing attribution, asdescribed in more detail below (415). The website can encourage thecustomer to reach out to the enterprise 208 with a “Representativewaiting to help you!” by dialing the number. A voice platform server 408can answer the call the place the call in the queue 410 to be picked bya representative station 424 (418).

The voice platform server 408 retrieves marketing attribution from thecustomer engagement platform 420, e.g., based on the dialed number. Ifthe pool of reserved numbers is limited and reused in a cyclic way thenadditionally a timeslot for calling can be given to preserve anassociation with the triggering context. The representative 206 cananswer the call at the representative station 424 (419). The station caninclude a phone and a computer, the computer including a processor andmemory. The call can be made in various media and/or social channels,including voice, chat, text, video, schedule contact/appointment, etc.,both separate and combined. The call can be an inbound call from thecustomer to the representative 206, or an outbound call, e.g., therepresentative 206 initiating a call with the customer and/or returninga call to the customer.

An exemplary voice platform server 408 is a GENESYS voice platform (GVP)server. An interactive voice response (IVR) server which allows acomputer to interact with during a call with the customer can be used tohelp answer the calls and place the calls in the queue 410, e.g., usingdual tone—multi frequency (DTMF) tones input via a keypad. The voiceplatform server 408 answers the call and places the caller in the queue410 and when the representative 206 becomes available then the audiencemember is removed from the queue 410. The representative 206 helps thecustomer to resolve an issue or make a purchase, etc. Alternatively, incertain scenarios the IVR may be sufficient to finish the sale, withoutneed for a live representative 206. Since IVR resources are alsolimited, e.g., a number of concurrent media control platform (MCP) portsis limited, a pacing of when to place the impressions 104 can berequired.

The representative station 424 can connect with the market processingsystem 402 to feed back customer interaction data, e.g., call data, andsales conversion data to the market processing system 402 (426). Inaddition to the collected data 315 described in FIG. 3, e.g., about thetype of product or service, profile information, e.g., audience ID,level of service, and type of audience, and context information, e.g.,location of the audience member, time of the contact, etc., therepresentative station 424 can provide customer interaction data. Thecustomer interaction data along with the customer ID can includenegative and positive outcomes of the customer engagement, e.g., whetherthere was a sale, whether there was not a sale, whether the callerstated they would like time to consider the product or service and theywould call back, whether the caller wants time to think about theproduct or service and a return call, etc. The data from therepresentative stations 424 can inform the market side computers 110 a,b, n that the caller is expecting a follow-up call and allows forestimated hit rates, which can be important for tuning campaign pacing.This information can be stored with the customer histories for theenterprise 208. The market processing system 402 can also capture missedopportunities, e.g., the customers that did not engage the impression104.

The market processing system 402 can utilize the fed back customerinteraction data for campaign management and potential campaignadjustment, e.g., to set advertising budgets, determine a number ofimpressions 104 to delivery, determine where to deliver the impressions104, etc. The customer interaction data can also be used to update themarketing attribute after the call is completed. By targetingimpressions 104 in ways that yield better results, this can improveadvertisement fulfillment and cost reduction. In this way, attributesthat would otherwise only be available to or within the enterprise 208are available to the market side computers 110 a, b, n. The fed backdata (426) can result in a smaller amount of unique, temporary numbersneeded per advertising campaign since the market processing system 402does not have to use a different number to distinguish betweenimpressions 104. Additionally or alternatively, the enterprise 208 canfeed back word-of-mouth effects, e.g. customer communicating aboutcampaign in social media, to the market processing system 402. A socialmedia connector watching for actionable events can capture the data fedback to the market processing system 404. The fed back data can becombined with inbound marketing to try to cross-/up-sell to inboundcustomers who are not aware of campaigns.

For example, a customer decides it is time to purchase a new bike. Usingan audience computer 106 a, b, n, she searches on the web for a mountainbike and receives several impressions 104 for mountain bikes along withher search results. The customer clicks on a search result link and thewebsite 406 makes a request to the customer engagement platform 420 fora phone number to reach the enterprise 208 (415). The website 406 sendsthe marketing attribution to the customer engagement platform 420 andthe customer engagement platform 420 associates the attribution with thephone number (and/or extension) reserved for a determined period of timethat it sent to the website 406.

The customer decides to call the phone number and ask for help onmountain bike gear ratios. The voice platform server 408 receives thecall and the voice application sends the customer's dialed number to thecustomer engagement platform 420 (417). The customer engagement platform420 uses the dialed number to retrieve the customer's the marketingattribution associated with that number, e.g., via a lookup table. Thecustomer engagement platform 420 returns the marketing attribution tothe voice platform server 408 and releases the dialed number. The voiceplatform server 408 then appends the marketing attribution key valuepairs to the call to the representative station 424 (418). After therepresentative 206 has helped the customer with the helmet decision apost-routing script can utilize the marketing attribution key valuepairs for reporting to the market processing system 402 (426).

Using the attribution information from the representative station 424,the market processing system 402 can directly associate marketing spendwith the original advertisement investment that drove the customercontacts that lead to the business outcomes. The market side computers110 a, b, n can also better ascertain marketing attribution in terms ofquantifiable metrics such as cost per action/acquisition (CPA). Thisallows the market side computers 110 a, b, n to better evaluate theeffectiveness of advertisement spending and determine where futuremarketing investments may yield the most return on investment, e.g.,before the impression 104 has been purchased.

Advantages include cost savings due to improved marketing attribution asimproved insights guide future advertising spending more effectively.Cost savings may also occur due to operational optimization, e.g., laborcost reduction, by being able to better forecast, schedule, and utilizeskilled workforce. Cost savings may occur due to reduced representativetime required to determine the source or intent of the incoming call.Revenue improvement may occur due to higher sales closure rates as aresult of a more relevant and timely connection between the a impression104 and the interaction with a representative 206 who can close the saleor deliver effective service. Improved customer experience and lowercustomer effort may also occur, along with improved employee experiencesby being able to engage with more engaged, hotter leads. The enterprise208 is able to report on marketing attribution for individual customerresolutions. The architecture 400 also includes a real-time ability toconvey marketing information to the enterprise 208 across an inboundphone call event.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of another example architecture 500 toconsider market attribution when serving impressions 104. The marketprocessing system 402 sets an advertising budget to determine a numberof impressions 104 to delivery (510). The search engine marketingplatform 404 requests a phone number from the customer engagementplatform 420 (512). Additional or alternative to the phone number, othercontact vehicles can be used to establish a link between the webactivity and interaction with the customer, e.g., an individual promocode, e.g., a QR code which the customer can scan with smartphone. Thecode and phone numbers can be dynamic or personalized.

The search engine marketing platform 404 places the impression 104 inthe search results along with the phone number (513). The audiencecomputer 106 a, b, n, searches for a product or a service and receivesthe impression 104 with the phone number (514). The customer dials thephone number in the impression (515). The voice platform server 408answers the phone call and retrieves the marketing attribution fromcustomer engagement platform 420 based on the dialed phone number (516).The voice platform server 408 places the caller in queue and when therepresentative 206 becomes available then the customer is removed fromthe queue (717). The representative 206 helps the customer to resolve anissue or make a purchase (518). The representative station 424, e.g. theenterprise 208, shares resolution information with the market processingsystem 402.

FIG. 6 is a screenshot of an example service window 346 for therepresentative 206. At the representative station 424 the service window346 can be displayed to the representative 206 to help manage caseshandled by the enterprise 208. For example, when the audience calls thecontact center 108 a case can be opened. The service window 346 includesdata regarding the cases, including a case number 602, a caller's name604, a subject 606, a status 608, a priority 610, a date and time thatthe case was opened 612, and a case owner 614. The service window 346can provide information to the representative 206 regarding cases thatthe representative is handling, including cases opened based on a callfrom the audience as described above. Overlaying the service window 346can be a call control element 700 to manage inbound/outbound calls,emails, chats, texts, video, etc., e.g., from/to the audience.Information from the service window 346 can be fed back to the marketprocessing system 402.

FIG. 7 is a screenshot of an example call control element 700. An activeinteraction bar 702 includes identification data, including a name ofthe caller, a time of the call, a telephone number, etc. An inactiveinteraction bar(s) 704 includes a name of the caller, a time, atelephone number for texts and call, or an email address for chats andemails. The call control element 700 can also indicate an interactiontype 706, e.g., call, text, email, chat, video, etc. Other informationcan be included about the caller, including priority data, whether thecaller was prompted by an impression 104, whether the caller is a returncaller, etc. The call control element 700 can include user interfaceicons for the representative 206, including an expand softphone widget708, a supervisor function 710, a window shrink widget 712, a collapsesoftphone widget 714, etc. Other indicators can include a branding area716, a representative state indicator 718, an extension identifier 720,interaction context icons 722, and global context icons 724, etc. Hovertext 726 can be displayed for the widgets and icons, etc. to identifythe widgets and icons when the pointer is moved over the widget or icon.Information from the call control element 700 can be fed back to themarket processing system 402.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an example of market attribution. Theimpression 104 purchase and/or display decision can be made with aconnection to representatives 206 having particular skill-sets, e.g., aset of one or more desired skills for handling that type ofinteraction/sales opportunity, and/or a proficiency level per skill. Insome implementations, the impression 104 can be placed based on anavailability of the skilled representative 206 within a determined timeperiod before or after the impression is displayed 104. The marketingattribution based connection can occur by utilizing information from thecustomer engagement platform 420. For example, the impression 104 canpresent a proactive, dynamic web invitation to engage with a skilledrepresentative 206 via web chat. Additionally or alternative, theimpression 104 can present a proactive, dynamic web invitation to engagewith a skilled representative 206 via a web callback. This allows themarket processing system 402 to evaluate their marketing spend, beingable to attribute specific impressions 104 with specific skilledrepresentative interactions, by tying the customer acceptance of theproactive web invitation to chat or receive a web callback back with theoriginal impression 104. Additional or alternative to waiting to send animpression 104 based on information that the correctly skilledrepresentative 206 became available, a bid amount may be higher to sendthe impression 104 when the representative 206 can handle premiumservices and products, e.g., insurance, mortgages, legal, financialservices, medical, high technology, banking, etc., than if that type ofrepresentative 206 is not available within a determined time period ofserving the impression 104.

For example, a home buyer browses a web page. In some cases, the homebuyer may use a search engine 409 to perform a keyword search formortgage rates, and in other cases advertisements are sent to thewebsite absent a search. A bank determines to display impression 104 forits mortgage loans on the website (802). In some implementations, thebank only wants to display the impression 104 when there is a skilledmortgage loan officer available to handle potential inquiries. In otherimplementations, the bank displays the impression 104 at determinedtimes, e.g., during times of high web browsing traffic, duringdetermined times of the day, month, year, when the advertising budgetallows for it, etc. If the impression 104 is being displayed based on anavailability of skilled representative 206, the enterprise 208 can sendto the demand side platform 108 the status of its availability ofmortgage-and-chat-skilled representatives, so the demand side platform108 and ad exchange 112 can take this into account when determining whento present the impression 104 and/or a cost of the impression 104. Thesearch engine marketing platform 404 determines an impression 104 todisplay (804). In the case of a search, the search engine marketingplatform 404 sends the user's search information to the ad exchange 112,which coordinates with the demand side platform 108 to determine theappropriate impression 104 to display, e.g., through ad bidding or otherdisplay process, according to determined attributes and business rulesas discussed herein.

The impression 104 which is presented can include a proactive, dynamicinvitation to engage with an available mortgage-and-chat-skilledrepresentative 206, including contact information (806). The marketprocessing system 402 can correlate the call or chat interaction withthe skilled representative 206 back with the original marketingattribution, e.g., based on the contact information (808). Otherscenarios are possible. For example, the interaction can start withchat, and then a voice channel is added. For example, the representative206 can call the customer, or if chat is via WebRTC then add voice tothe session. Advantages include that the market processing system 402can directly associate interactions with skilled representatives 206 andresulting business outcomes back with the original impression 104 thatdrove those customer contacts. Therefore, the market processing system402 can better ascertain marketing attribution in terms of quantifiablemetrics such as cost per action/acquisition (CPA). This allows themarket processing system 402 to better evaluate the effectiveness ofad-spend and where future marketing investments can likely yield abetter return on investment.

This can lead to cost savings due to reduced marketing spend onimpressions 104, e.g., only pay for advertising volume in line withavailable skilled representative resourcing. Moreover, there can be costsavings due to improved marketing attribution, e.g., improved insightsguide future ad-spend more effectively. Other cost savings can be due tooperational optimization, e.g., labor cost reduction, by being able tobetter forecast, schedule, and utilize the skilled workforce. Revenueimprovement can occur due to higher sales closure rates, e.g., as aresult of a more relevant and timely connection between the impression104 and the interaction with a skilled representative 206 who can closethe sale or deliver effective service. There can also be an improvedcustomer experience and lower customer effort, and improved employeeexperience by being able to connect with more engaged, hotter leads.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of market attribution based onworkforce management (WFM) forecasting. Workforce management (WFM)algorithms can be used to project an organization's workforce planningforecasts of representatives 206 needed with particular skill-sets,e.g., a set of one or more desired skills for handling that type ofinteraction/sales opportunity, and/or proficiency level per skill. TheWFM forecasting is augmented with historical and/or projected impression104 purchase/display demand volumes, e.g., data provided via adexchanges 112 and/or the demand side platform 108. This allows anorganization to adjust its staff planning, e.g., hiring, training,scheduling, to meet the demand for specialized skilled resources tosupport projected volumes of impression 104. Additionally oralternatively, when the market processing system 402 determines with WFMinformation that there is a high knowledge corpus of representatives 206available at the enterprise 208, and therefore the market processingsystem 402 has a high confidence in closing a sale on a product or aservice, the marketing processing system 402 can serve more impressions104 and/or the price per bid can increase.

For example, a home buyer uses a search engine 409 to do a keywordsearch for mortgage rates on a website (900). Alternatively, a searchneed not be conducted for a bank to display an impression 104. The bankmay want to display impressions 104 for its mortgage loans on thewebsite when it has skilled mortgage loan officers available to handlepotential inquiries (902). Alternatively, the bank need not check for anavailable skilled representative 206. The search engine marketingplatform 404 sends the user's search information to an ad exchange 112,which coordinates with the demand side platform 108 to determine theappropriate impression 104 to display according to various attributesand business rules, e.g., as described above. This process may involvead bidding. The enterprise 208 sends the demand side platform 108 thestatus of its availability of mortgage-skilled representatives 206, sothe demand side platform 108 and ad exchange 112 can take this intoaccount when determining which impression 104 to display (904). Thedemand side platform 108 can provide the enterprise 208 with historicaland/or projected demand for mortgage-related impressions 104, based onthe web user interest it has seen in the past and/or recent trends. Theenterprise 208 can take this data into account in its workforce planningmodels, so that it accurately forecasts the number of mortgage-skilledrepresentatives 206 needed at particular times in order to effectivelyand cost-efficiently capture the marketing opportunity (906). Theimpression 104 is displayed and the skilled representative 206 isstanding by (908).

With the marketing attribution-based WFM forecasting, the organizationcan proactively adjust its resource staff forecasting based onhistorical or trending ad-demand patterns, to ensure that it neitherunder- nor over-servicing the potential market opportunity. In addition,for high-value items, it can be beneficial to ensure the right-skilledresource is available to support an impression 104 that is delivered toa user, and that staff planning matches projected marketing leadvolumes. The WFM forecasting can be implemented as part of an adpurchase/display decision template and associated with a script of theorchestration application 822 or other rule system. The solution canmake use of the core customer experience platforms for representativeskill-set and availability data, as well as skills-based routing andcontextual computer telephony integration (CTI) screen-pop capabilities,e.g., in FIGS. 6 and 7. The WFM solution can enable skilled resourceallocation, scheduling, and forecasting capabilities, and includereal-time awareness of detailed representative skill-sets andavailability. It also includes the ability to correlate historical ortrending ad-demand with skilled resource planning and forecasting.

The systems and methods described above may be implemented in manydifferent ways in many different combinations of hardware, softwarefirmware, or any combination thereof. In one example, the systems andmethods can be implemented with a processor and a memory, where thememory stores instructions, which when executed by the processor, causesthe processor to perform the systems and methods. The processor may meanany type of circuit such as, but not limited to, a microprocessor, amicrocontroller, a graphics processor, a digital signal processor, oranother processor. The processor may also be implemented with discretelogic or components, or a combination of other types of analog ordigital circuitry, combined on a single integrated circuit ordistributed among multiple integrated circuits. All or part of the logicdescribed above may be implemented as instructions for execution by theprocessor, controller, or other processing device and may be stored in atangible or non-transitory machine-readable or computer-readable mediumsuch as flash memory, random access memory (RAM) or read only memory(ROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) or othermachine-readable medium such as a compact disc read only memory (CDROM),or magnetic or optical disk. A product, such as a computer programproduct, may include a storage medium and computer readable instructionsstored on the medium, which when executed in an endpoint, computersystem, or other device, cause the device to perform operationsaccording to any of the description above. The memory can be implementedwith one or more hard drives, and/or one or more drives that handleremovable media, such as diskettes, compact disks (CDs), digital videodisks (DVDs), flash memory keys, and other removable media.

The processing capability of the system may be distributed amongmultiple system components, such as among multiple processors andmemories, optionally including multiple distributed processing systems.Parameters, databases, and other data structures may be separatelystored and managed, may be incorporated into a single memory ordatabase, may be logically and physically organized in many differentways, and may implemented in many ways, including data structures suchas linked lists, hash tables, or implicit storage mechanisms. Programsmay be parts (e.g., subroutines) of a single program, separate programs,distributed across several memories and processors, or implemented inmany different ways, such as in a library, such as a shared library(e.g., a dynamic link library (DLL)). The DLL, for example, may storecode that performs any of the system processing described above.

While various embodiments have been described, it can be apparent thatmany more embodiments and implementations are possible. Accordingly, theembodiments are not to be restricted.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a processor; and amemory, wherein the memory includes instructions that, when executed bythe processor, cause the processor to: identify contact information fora contact point from a pool of available contact points, wherein theidentified contact information is associated with advertising materialdisplayed on an end user device; identify an interaction addressed tothe contact point in response to the advertising material beingdisplayed on the end user device; gather data about the interactionaddressed to the contact point; forward the gathered data forassociating the gathered data with the advertising material; and releasethe contact point to the pool of available contact points.
 2. The systemof claim 1, wherein the contact information is at least one of atelephony number or an email address.
 3. The system of claim 1, whereinthe contact information is displayed on the end user device with theadvertising material.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the advertisingmaterial is a web invitation to engage with a contact center agent. 5.The system of claim 1, wherein the advertising material is provided as aresult of a web query submitted by the end user device.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the data about the interaction includes an outcome ofthe interaction.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructionsfurther cause the processor to update an attribute associated with theadvertising material based on the gathered data.
 8. The system of claim7, wherein the attribute includes at least one of a number of theadvertising material to be delivered, location to which the advertisingmaterial is to be delivered, or advertising budget.
 9. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:transmit a request in response to identifying the interaction addressedto the contact point; and transmit information for identifying theadvertising material in response to the request, wherein the gathereddata is forwarded with the information for identifying the advertisingmaterial.
 10. A method comprising: identifying, by one or moreprocessors, contact information for a contact point from a pool ofavailable contact points, wherein the identified contact information isassociated with advertising material displayed on an end user device;identifying, by the one or more processors, an interaction addressed tothe contact point in response to the advertising material beingdisplayed on the end user device; gathering, by the one or moreprocessors, data about the interaction addressed to the contact point;forwarding, by the one or more processors, the gathered data forassociating the gathered data with the advertising material; andreleasing, by the one or more processors, the contact point to the poolof available contact points.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein thecontact information is at least one of a telephony number or an emailaddress.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the contact information isdisplayed on the end user device with the advertising material.
 13. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the advertising material is a web invitationto engage with a contact center agent.
 14. The method of claim 10,wherein the advertising material is provided as a result of a web querysubmitted by the end user device.
 15. The method of claim 10, whereinthe data about the interaction includes an outcome of the interaction.16. The method of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause theprocessor to update an attribute associated with the advertisingmaterial based on the gathered data.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinthe attribute includes at least one of a number of the advertisingmaterial to be delivered, location to which the advertising material isto be delivered, or advertising budget.
 18. The method of claim 10further comprising: transmitting a request in response to identifyingthe interaction addressed to the contact point; and transmittinginformation for identifying the advertising material in response to therequest, wherein the gathered data is forwarded with the information foridentifying the advertising material.